Large-boat Owners May Have To Bow To Stern New Fees

WASHINGTON — Last year`s congressional agreement on balancing the budget is bearing fruit, and for a lot of owners of boats longer than 16 feet, it isn`t very tasty.

The 1990 federal Omnibus Reconciliation Act did not, of course, balance the budget, but it did authorize a number of new revenue-raising schemes, including levying user fees on boat owners to help support the Coast Guard.

Well, here they come. The Transportation Department has just proposed a schedule of federal boat license fees, to take effect Oct. 1: $25 a year for boats over 16 feet, $35 for boats more than 20 feet, $50 for those over 27 feet and $100 for those more than 40 feet. (So the rich could find themselves soaked with more than bow spray).

In return, boaters would get a nice shiny federal decal to put on their boats (or else), plus the services of the Coast Guard, which they have been getting for free all these years.

The fees would apply only to boats registered for use in waters within official Coast Guard districts, which would leave out Bone Lake and Minong Flowage, which are in Wisconsin`s interior, but would include boats at Chicago and Door County, Wis.

Public comments on the proposed fees should be mailed on or before May 13 to Commandant (G-LRA-2/3406) (CGD 90-067), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 2nd Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20593-0001.

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We`re not sure how much this relates, but Rep. Walter B. Jones (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Merchant Marine Committee, has introduced legislation which, in his words, ``will provide a pot of money, if you will excuse the pun,`` to create more coastal dumping stations for ``marine sanitation devices-or in sailor lingo, `heads.` Toilets for you landlubbers.``

``What happens when the call to nature and the call of nature collide?``

Jones asked. ``It`s not very pretty. It`s not very healthy. And it`s not very good for water quality.``

Jones said only about 20 percent of the marinas in his state have boat toilet dumping stations and that the need is dire. The new federally financed dumps would be paid for from present excise taxes on fishing gear, boat motors and gasoline used for boating, which go into a trust fund dedicated to fish restocking and wetlands improvement.

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The U.S. Capitol, which is rapidly becoming the most protected building this side of the Kremlin, has just installed sniffing devices at entrances that can detect the presence of nitrogen, an element common to most explosives. These have been set off inadvertantly on several recent occasions by people who`ve been working in their gardens and have traces of nitrogen-based fertilizer on their hands. The devices apparently do not detect oxygen-based fertilizer, which are said to abound in the Capitol chambers.

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When the Washington Convention Center plays host to the annual boat and auto shows, the latest models and designs are displayed on the floor, often accompanied by models and sales reps. Something of the same went on at the annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the convention center last week; only instead of convertibles and sloops, the show featured Tomahawk missiles, Paveway laser-guided bombs, and other military hardware that defense contractors are pushing Congress to buy.

Staging what Congressional Quarterly calls ``bomb shows,`` the exhibitors at the Sea-Air-Space Expo hyped their sales pitch by using models of their heavy weaponry, plus tapes and films of bomb and missile action in the gulf war. Let`s hope no one kicked any tires.

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David (grandson of Ike) and Julie (daughter of Richard Nixon) Eisenhower live in Pennsylvania, but have just bought an oceanfront condo for $200,000 near the Delaware resort of Rehoboth. The apartment they took is a penthouse, which is about as far away as they`ll be able to get from other aspects of capital culture.